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Monday, February 27, 2006

Desertion and divorce in Arkansas

From: Joe FDearMYRTLE,We thoroughly enjoyed seeing you at the St. George Jamboree.

Question: A relative in Arkansas reportedly deserted his wife and familyaround 1895 and is found in the 1900 Census in Indian Territory with awife and two children. the children could not be his biologicalchildren because of their ages. His deserted wife remarries in 1897 inArkansas.

Would desertion be a cause of the marriage being "null and void"? Wouldthere have to have been a divorce? Where would such records be found?

DearJOE,From the ARKANSAS RESEARCH OUTLINE at www.familysearch.org we read

"Major Arkansas courts that have kept records of genealogical valueinclude the following:

Circuit courts have countywide jurisdiction over criminal cases,naturalization, and major civil cases. The Family History Library hascopies of many circuit court records.

Chancery courts have countywide jurisdiction over equity, divorce,probates, and adoptions. The Family History Library has some chancerycourt records. For PulaskiCounty, for example, the library has copiesof the records from 1839 to 1877.

Courts of common pleas have countywide jurisdiction over non-real estatecivil matters. The Family History Library has some courts of commonpleas records.

County courts have countywide jurisdiction over juvenile matters, taxes,claims, and county expenditures. The Family History Library has somecounty court records, including PulaskiCounty files from 1846 to 1878.

Justice of the peace courts have countywide jurisdiction overpreliminary hearings of criminal cases and minor contract matters. TheFamily History Library has some justice of the peace records, such asthe PulaskiCounty files from 1873 to 1917.

Original court records are kept by the clerks in each county courthouse.Copies of records at the Family History Library often date from thecreation of a county to about 1900, and some indexes are availablethrough the 1970s. Court records are also available at the Southwest Arkansas Regional Archives."

So the answer is YES, there were divorce records. I do not know ifdesertion was considered a reason for divorce in 1897, as each statehad peculiar laws that changed over time. Your best bet is to look inthe county courthouse records, first through microfilm and failingthat, by writing to the courthouse in question. THE HANDYBOOK FORGENEALOGISTS which II received from www.myancestorsfound.comlists eachcounty in Arkansas and the county records office contact info.